Nature is something we all share.

It connects us across geography, ideologies and backgrounds. It also provides opportunities for people to strengthen their communities and local economies and to find space for sanctuary. After a hard day, we walk beside the ocean, watch birds in our yard or wander through a forest. When we need to clear our heads, we want to feel a fresh breeze to connect us to something larger than ourselves. When nature is healthy, people benefit, too. Wetlands clean water, healthy oceans feed communities and thriving floodplains help protect against floods and wildfires. An ecosystem in balance protects lives and livelihoods so people and nature can thrive together.

Yet over time, our impacts on nature have grown. Draining wetlands, channelizing rivers and hardening shorelines have added up. Streams are running dry. Marshes are being developed. Fisheries are being depleted. And, at the same time, droughts, wildfires, floods and increasingly destructive storms remind us that climate change is not an abstract future threat. It’s here.

The good news is that nature isn’t just something we need to protect. It’s also one of our most powerful solutions.

What makes working with nature so compelling is that it rarely solves only one problem at a time. Consider a cover crop planted in Iowa over the winter. It holds soil and nutrients in the ground instead of letting them wash into rivers and drinking water supplies. It helps the soil hold moisture through drought. It stores carbon instead of releasing it into the air. One practice and the benefits compound – for the water, for the farm, for the climate and for the community.

Nature-based solutions help people meet the challenges of climate change while also building long-term resilience. From the Alluvial Valley in Mississippi to Helper City, Utah, to the Gulf of Mexico, people are working with nature instead of against it and finding ways to grow together.

The stories in our Human Nature series are also calls to action. They show us what is possible when people work with nature to create change in their communities. Nature-based solutions work in real places, under real conditions, and deliver real results. I am grateful for the expertise, persistence and partnership the humans in these stories bring to this work.

When we look after our rivers, oceans and wetlands, we build resilient communities that can weather tough times. We harness the power of the environment to create jobs and protect our neighborhoods. And we protect the rivers, oceans and landscapes we share.

When we take care of nature, nature takes care of us.